Controlling Interest
by Deliwiel
Summary: Tony and Pepper are under attack from an unknown assailant. Is the attacker working alone, or is there something bigger at play here? Rated T for injuries.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hey hey! So this is my first attempt at a Tony Stark story. I've dabbled with Marvel before, but mostly my writing's been done with MacGyver, so let me know what you guys think!**_

 _ **First thing I should say is that this takes place after Iron Man 3, but before AoU. Stark has had the arc reactor removed, but Jarvis is still his AI.**_

 _ **Anyway, let me know what you guys think!**_

 _ **I don't own anything to do with Marvel. A girl can dream though, right? XD**_

As he let himself be swept away from the large mansion by the large crowds, a smirk spread over Ted Calloway's face. At the end of the driveway, he broke off from the rest of the story-hungry journalists. His car was parked a few blocks away, and when he reached the vehicle, he simply got inside, rolled down his windows, and pulled out his phone as he waited for the minutes to tick by until it was time for him to go back.

 _0-0-0_

"Welcome home, Sir," Jarvis greeted as Tony roared into the garage. The car's engine rumbled as he put it into park. Ever since he'd blown his suits and had his arc reactor removed, Pepper had been trying to convince Tony to live life like a normal billionaire, which mainly meant driving his cars around instead of his suits that she knew he had started rebuilding.

"Hey J. Anything fun happen while I was out?"

"Miss Potts had to threaten to call the authorities on a group of journalists who wouldn't leave," the AI replied, his tone as mild as if he were reporting the weather.

"Why wasn't I notified?" Stark asked as he got out of the car. "How'd they even manage to find this place?"

"You are a public figure, sir. It isn't that hard to find information if one is persistent enough. As journalists usually are."

"Alert Happy," Stark instructed.

"Very good, sir."

Stark put in his earpiece and tapped it, calling Pepper.

"Tony," came the warm but exhausted-sounding voice of his girlfriend.

"Shoulda called," Stark lightly chastised, though his tone was light enough to let Pepper know he was joking.

"I had it handled," she replied.

"I know you did. You're great," he praised.

"Oh, I know. But why don't you get up here and tell me that in person?"

"On my way." Stark grinned as their phone call was disconnected. He was actually kind of excited; they had a quiet evening planned, just a nice dinner for the two of them.

Stark made his way upstairs, taking the steps two at a time until he reached the main floor, where he found Pepper Potts waiting for him.

"Hey there," he greeted.

"Hi," she replied with a soft smile, wrapping her arms around his neck softly and planting a kiss on his lips.

"Mmm. Let's skip dinner."

Pepper pulled away and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "No. I cooked the food, I'm not letting that go to waste."

"It wouldn't go to waste, we could just...eat it later. And wait, you cooked?"

"Why does that surprise you?"

Tony stared at Pepper warily. "Is that a trick question? Is this a trap? I feel like this is a trap."

Pepper rolled her eyes and turned back towards the dining area while Tony walked beside her.

The dining room was softly lit with dimmed lights, casting a nice glow around the room without making it too dark.

"This is all very romantic," Stark commented. "You do this yourself?"

"I have two hands don't I?"

"You do. And they're lovely. Sure you don't wanna just skip—" One look at Pepper's face, and Tony knew his answer. "'Kay. Sounds good. Dinner it is."

They sat down, and Tony looked at the dishes. "Y'know," he commented. "I'm almost expecting these to get up, start dancing and singing or something. Hey Jarvis, nobody's come out with actual moving dinnerware, have they?"

"Sir, as much as I'd love to comment on the logistics of that topic, I'm detecting some sort of electronic pulse. I-"

The AI cut off suddenly, and Stark looked at Pepper in confusion and slight concern. "Jarvis?" the billionaire called out, standing up from his seat. There was no answer.

Pepper watched Tony, and the look she saw on his face worried her. "Tony, what's going on?"

"Listen … do me a favor? Get out of the house, call Rhodes and have him get over here." Tony was walking around and speaking slowly as he tried to figure out what was happening.

"That's not an answer, Tony."

"I know, but right now I just really need you to do this."

Pepper didn't look like she wanted to agree, but she finally stood as well, making her way towards the door as she pulled out her phone.

Tony listened to the _click click click_ of his girlfriend's heels as she walked across the linoleum floor, but suddenly became aware of another sound in between her footsteps, a terrifying _tick tick tick._ Stark turned with wide eyes, a shout of warning on his lips, but it was too late. The ticking stopped, and there was half a second of silence before the world around them exploded.

 _0-0-0_

When Tony came to, the first thing he became aware of was a loud ringing in his ears, making every sound muted. Stark began pushing himself to his feet, slowing for a split-second as a wave of dizziness hit him. He didn't pause for long though; his desire to find Pepper and make sure she was okay was more pressing than any other physical injury.

He felt something trickling down his forehead, and he reached up to wipe whatever it was away, thinking it was just sweat. When he glanced at his hand though, his fingers was a darker shade than they normally were. He gently probed at his forehead again, wincing as he found the source of the blood.

It wasn't a deep wound though, so once again Tony trekked on, putting his own needs aside until he could find Pepper.

"Jarvis?" Tony coughed out, accidentally inhaling some of the dust floating around in the air. There was no response from the AI. "Jarvis?" When the AI still didn't answer, Tony got a sinking feeling in his gut. He tapped his earpiece, trying to call someone, anyone, but the small piece of technology remained stubbornly silent. The billionaire grunted in frustration.

"Pep?" Tony called out, still trying to cough out the dust in his throat and lungs. It was too dark to see anything. There were times that he really missed having the arc reactor in his chest as a constant source of light. This was one of them. As more and more time passed in the dark and the silence, Stark's chest grew tighter and tighter, and his breaths got shorter as he came closer and closer to a full-on panic attack. "Pepper?" he called out again.

"Here," came the reply finally. Tony's chest loosened and his breath released in a whoosh of air he barely realized he'd been holding as he turned as saw his girlfriend making her way towards him. She looked slightly dazed, and was covered in dust, but from what Tony could see, she didn't have any injuries. Stark began making his way through the rubble, intending to meet Pepper halfway. They reached each other and embraced, then Tony pulled back and began looking her over, fingers brushing her cheeks as he pushed her hair out of her face.

She grabbed his hands gently, stopping his examination. "I'm fine," she insisted. Their eyes met, and she gave him a reassuring expression. "Really," she promised. Her coughing and shaky voice made Tony doubt her words slightly, though he remained silent about those doubts, at least for the time being. Instead, he chose to focus on the fact that they were both alive.

"We're alright," Stark said to the redhead. "We're okay."

"We have to get out of here," Pepper stated, looking around to find the best possible path out.

"Not in those shoes, you can't," Tony pointed out, gesturing to the woman's high heels. She looked down at them as well.

"I'm not walking around barefoot in this," she argued, gesturing to the rubble surrounding them.

"Wasn't saying you should do that." Immediately Stark kicked off his own shoes and scooted them over to Pepper, ignoring her protests. "Just put them on," he insisted. "You're gonna twist an ankle if you try getting through all this with those."

"Tony, I can't."

"Yes, you can. Look, I've already taken them off. Just put them on."

Pepper hesitated another minute before finally nodding. "Okay," she agreed. She kicked off her own heels and slipped into Tony's shoes, which were large on her feet. "What about you?"

"I'll be fine. Believe me, I've dealt with worse," he assured her. Her eyebrows raised in a dubious expression as she crouched down and tightened the laces as much as she could, trying to make sure they wouldn't come off.

Once she was finished, Tony took her hand and the two of them began making their way through the wreckage, doing their best to avoid the glass littering the floor. "Tony, what _was_ that?" Pepper asked as Stark picked their path through the rubble.

"I dunno, some sort of controlled detonation."

"Really?" Pepper drawled. Tony gave her a look that asked her to curb the sarcasm, and she backed down. "Can we call anyone? Rhodey? Natasha? Fury?"

"Already tried," Stark replied, shaking his head. "We were hit with some sort of EMP," he explained. "Fried everything electronic in the house."

"Including the suits?" Pepper asked, pushing her hair out of her eyes. Tony shook his head.

"No, the suits are fine," he said. "They're built to reboot immediately after a blast like this, so they're good, but-" He held up his arm, where he'd implanted the suit's microchips. "We have to access them manually. The chips are fried. Gonna have to reprogram those now." He cursed softly under his breath and began muttering to himself, working out problems out loud, until Pepper put her hand on his arm.

"Tony?" Pepper asked, drawing the man back to the situation at hand.

"Right. I'm focused."

"Please tell me you put the new suits somewhere other than the basement?" Pepper asked, looking at the debris cluttering the floor. It was going to be a maze to go anywhere, and even harder to get down to the basement.

"That's where they're at," Tony informed her regretfully. Pepper sighed.

"Then I guess we'd better get moving."

Glass and rock littered the ground as the redhead and the billionaire began making their way to the staircase.

"Who do you think did this?" Pepper asked as they navigated their way around a particularly large piece of rubble.

"Toss a rock, I'm sure you'll hit someone with the grudge and ability," Stark replied. His guilt was eating him up alive that once again, Pepper was in danger because of him. And to his knowledge, he hadn't even given their address out to anyone this time.

He was still trying to figure out who and how had attacked his house, lost in thought until Pepper stopped moving and tugged him back.

"Tony," she said slowly. Stark was jerked out of his contemplation and turned to face the situation.

"Oh." The staircase had collapsed about four steps down, leaving a gaping hole in the floor. Jumping was out of the question. Tony turned back to Pepper, who was staring at the missing stairs with a tired expression.

After a moment, Tony squeezed Pepper's hand. "Okay," he said. "I've got an idea."

He led her back the way they came, and since they knew the pathway a little bit, they made it through the wreckage slightly faster as Stark led Pepper over to the elevator. He glanced around and grabbed a piece of metal.

"Tony, the elevators won't work if it was an EMP," Pepper pointed out, wondering if her boyfriend had hit his head harder than he was letting on.

"No, I know." Stark stuck the metal into the elevator door jam and began prying the door open, not bothering to explain his thinking. Once he got it open a few inches, he dropped the metal, put his hands inside, and pushed the door open the rest of the way. Once he was sure the door would stay open, he stuck his head into the shaft.

"Look at that," he said, trying to sound optimistic. He knew Pepper was going to hate what he was about to say. "Elevator's above."

"And that's good because?" Pepper was asking the question, but Tony could hear in her voice that she already knew the answer.

"We just George of the Jungle our way down to the basement," Stark stated. He looked over at Pepper, who had closed her eyes as if that could help her wake up from the nightmare she'd found herself in.

"Hey," Tony said, grabbing her arm and squeezing it gently in support. "We're gonna get down there, we're gonna get the suits, and we're get outta here."

Pepper took in a deep breath, then opened her eyes and nodded. "Okay," she said.

"I'll go first," Tony added.

"Yeah," Pepper agreed. Tony tried to let go of her hand, but Pepper's grip was like a vice. Stark looked back at the woman. She was clearly in shock.

"Hey," he said again, pulling her attention away from the gaping shaft and back to his face. "You're gonna be fine. I'm gonna be right there with you." He placed a quick kiss on her cheek before he turned again to the elevator. Pepper released his hand, and after judging the distance, Tony made the short leap and grabbed onto the cable.

He didn't grab on tight enough though, and he started falling down almost immediately. He felt his heart freeze in his chest for a half second before his hands tightened further. He slid to a halt, wincing as the cables dug into his skin.

"Tony!" Pepper's worried yell reached his ears, and he looked up to see her face peering into the shaft.

"I'm good," he called back, tightening his grip on the cable even more, ignoring the pain coming from his hands. After a few more seconds, Tony looked up.

"Come on," he called to Pepper, who was still standing there, looking hesitant. "I'm right under you. I'll catch you if you fall."

Finally, Pepper copied Tony's movements, though she actually caught the cable the first time around. As she swung into the shaft, the two of them gently rocked back and forth briefly. It was too dark to see much of anything, but Stark could practically feel Pepper shaking through the cable.

"You're doing great, honey," he called up, inching his own way down.

"My hands are sweaty," she called back. "I'm going to slip!"

"You're not gonna slip," he promised. "And even if you do, I'll catch you," he repeated.

"Tony I swear, if you drop me…"

"Babe, I'm not gonna drop you. Promise."

Slowly, the two of them shimmied their way down the elevator cables. About thirty seconds into their descent, Pepper let out a short yell as she started slipping, but she caught herself before she fell. As soon as he heard her cry of alarm, Stark had let go of the cable with one hand and prepared to reach for his girlfriend, but she caught herself before she actually fell. Stark's heart was pounding in his chest, and he could only imagine how fast hers was beating. Thankfully, they wasn't too far to the bottom level, though both of them felt like hours had passed before they finally reached the ground.

Tony's feet hit the floor first, and then he waited until Pepper was right above him before reaching out and grabbing her, helping her get to the ground. Once her feet were firmly planted, Stark gripped her hand firmly again and they began moving in the direction of the room where the suits were kept.

They'd only gone a few yards when Tony heard something rumble and creak above them. He looked up, and his eyes widened as he saw a crack spreading through the ceiling. He knew what was going to happen seconds before it did, and without saying a word, the billionaire simply turned and pushed Pepper out of the way before trying to run himself. However, in taking the time to insure Pepper's safety, he'd sacrificed his own, and the roof came down on top of him.

Tony barely heard Pepper yell his name as he covered his head, trying to make sure it was protected. The rumbling died down and the dust finally settled, and Tony found himself on his back, covered in debris from the waist down. His left leg was partially free of the wreckage, but his right side was completely pinned.

Tony struggled under the weight of the debris, but he froze when he felt a stabbing pain in his thigh. Slowly, he adjusted his position so that he could get a better view, and then he looked down at his leg. He blanched when he saw a large piece of rebar trying to become a permanent part of his anatomy.

"Tony!" Pepper hurried over to her boyfriend. She gently grabbed either side of his head, trying to stabilize him just in case he had a spine or neck injury.

"Pep," he grunted, reaching up and grabbing her wrists, as if to make sure that she was there. "Pep, I'm stuck."

"Tony, your leg," Pepper muttered when she saw the bloody piece of metal.

"We… we can't focus on that right now," Tony panted, even though it was the only thing _he_ was focusing on. "We gotta...get you safe…"

"No, Tony, I'm not leaving you," Pepper insisted, her voice shaking. Tony couldn't tell if it was shaking out of fear, anger, or shock, but he figured it was probably a mix of all of them.

"Okay Pep, listen to me-"

"I'm not leaving you!"

"Pepper, please."

"Tony, don't make me-"

"Pep. It has to be you. You have to go. I can't lift this thing off my leg, and as strong as I know you are, I don't think you can lift it either."

"Tony-"

"The suits are just down the hallway. You've gotta go in and get one, then come back. Please, Pepper. Please."

The last plea from Tony finally had the redhead closing her mouth in resignation. She knew she had to go, but it didn't mean she had to like it.

"I'm coming right back," she promised as she gently lowered his head back to the ground.

"I know."

"I swear, I'll only be gone a few-" The rest of her promise was cut off as she let out a cry of surprise, and suddenly she wasn't at Tony's head anymore. The billionaire tried turning any way he could to see what happened to her, but he had to pause and let out a hiss of pain as he felt something tweak in his back.

"I'd hold still if I were you," a snide voice cautioned. Tony heard Pepper struggling, and he finally managed to get his head upside down to view the situation, even if it was the wrong way up.

"Who...are you?" he panted, not recognizing the man holding Pepper.

"It doesn't matter who I am, because in a few minutes, you'll be dead."

Pepper was struggling against the man's hold, but he squeezed tighter, and she began gasping for air.

"Stop," Stark insisted, starting to reach out for Pepper instinctively. He jostled the rebar in his thigh though, and momentarily saw black. When he made his way back to the land of the living, the man holding Pepper was staring at him with a triumphant look in his eyes.

"This was easier than I thought it would be," he stated. "I gotta say, I'm a little disappointed in you, Tony."

"Welcome to the club," Stark grunted.

The man began walking past the pinned billionaire, dragging Pepper with him.

"Listen," Tony panted, trying to reach out to Pepper as they passed. "Just let her go. We can settle this, I'm sure. But she's got nothing to do with this."

"You're wrong, Mr. Stark. You've both got everything to do with this."

Pepper was scratching at the man's arm around her neck, trying to elicit any sort of reaction from the man to get him to loosen his grip, but nothing seemed to be fazing him.

"Now," the stranger said, reaching into his pocket. "We can't have you following us, so I believe this is where we part ways. I will bid you a good night, sir." He pulled out a small spray can, no bigger than a keychain can of mace. Without further ado, he depressed the nozzle, spraying the contents into Stark's face.

Tony coughed and gagged, and immediately felt lightheaded.

"Be seeing you around, Tony," the man said, tossing the can of mace in the air and catching it one handed while Pepper struggled. Tony looked up with hate in his eyes, still struggling to get out from under the debris pinning him down, but he was stuck fast, and his struggles were getting weaker by the second.

Tony had a small moment of satisfaction when through his hazy vision, he saw Pepper jerk her elbow back into her captor's gut, finally getting him to release her with a wheeze. She jumped away, then turned back with a raised hand to fight him, but he recovered from her attack quickly and brought up the can of whatever he'd drugged Tony with and sprayed it in Pepper's face as well, though not before he palm made solid contact with his cheek. Then the darkness overtook Tony's vision, and he went limp on the floor.

 _0-0-0_

"Come on," the stranger said as Tony stilled on the floor. The man's cheek was stinging from Pepper's slap, but the redhead was already swaying from the contents in the can. However, she was still able to take a step backwards, closer to the unconscious Tony as their attacker advanced. She wasn't aware of her surroundings though, and she stumbled over a piece of brick. She would have fallen right on top of Tony, but the stranger's hand shot out and gripped her wrist, pulling her closer to him. She struggled and hit him in the chest, but just like Tony, her struggles became weaker and weaker, and without any trouble, the stranger easily hoisted her over his shoulder and walked away, leaving Tony stranded, pinned and trapped under a mound of debris.

 _ **So...? What do you guys think? Should I keep going? Is this something you guys are interested in? Let me know, and thanks for checking out this first chapter!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Yay! People like the story! I was hoping that would be the case *awkward grin* Sooooo...not sure if I just completely set the expectations too high with that first chapter, but here's to hoping the second chapter doesn't disappoint too bad XD**_

 _ **Also, let me know if you spot any mistakes. I do my own beta-ing/editing, and I'm usually able to catch things, but I know things have slipped my attention before!**_

 _ **I don't own anything to do with Marvel, all characters belong to them.**_

The first thing Tony was aware of was a throbbing pain in his thigh. The stuffy feeling in his head came next, and when he opened his eyes, he was eternally grateful that it was dark, because he didn't know if he could have taken the light. However, the reasons for it being so dark suddenly came back to him, and he tried to sit up.

However, the movement reminded him that he was stuck under a large pile of debris with a large piece of rebar in his thigh, and moving as quickly as he did elicited a sharp intake of breath while he tried to ride out the pain.

"Pepper?" he finally coughed, looking around. When he didn't see her, he once again felt the panic building up in his chest, though he had a feeling that this time, it wasn't going to go away as easily as it had the first time. Vaguely, he remembered whoever attacked them had sprayed her in the face with the same stuff Tony had been hit with, and the idea that his girlfriend was in the hands of the maniac who'd blown up their house made him even more desperate to get free and find her.

Stark looked at the debris, trying to figure a way out. The biggest problem was the large piece of ceiling currently residing on the lower half of his body. If he could get that off, he knew he'd be able to move around more, and actually get out.

There was a thick piece of metal sitting a few feet away from him that he knew would work well for leverage, and he began rocking side to side, trying to reach over and grab it. As he rocked, he found it more and more difficult to take in deep breaths thanks to his building panic attack. The sudden lack of full breaths made Tony's heart rate spike even more, but he tried to ignore the symptoms. He knew he was no help to Pepper if he broke down and had an anxiety attack.

So, ignoring the pain in his leg and the lack of full breaths for the moment, Stark continued moving, trying to reach the thick piece of metal. Finally, his fingertips scrabbled over it, and after another minute he grasped it in his hands.

As he turned back, he moved too quickly, and spots began dancing in his vision as the rebar in his leg was jostled.

Riding out the pain was difficult, especially without being able to get a full breath of air still, but he pushed on, doing his best to ignore the pain. Moving slightly slower this time, Tony wedged the metal under the cement block laying on top of his leg. He grit his teeth as he applied pressure to the lever, but the block barely budged.

Tony was sweating and panting. The force he was exerting paired with the lack of oxygen he was getting made it difficult to do much of anything. One thought of Pepper though, and Tony forced himself to calm down. He needed to get to her, and he wasn't going to be able to do that if he was stuck under debris. He took a few breaths as deep as he could, and on his last exhale, he let out a yell and pushed as hard as he could on the metal lever.

The cement block shifted just enough for Stark to pull himself out. Holding the heavy piece of building in place long enough to let himself get out caused Tony's arms to begin shaking, but as soon as he was clear of the wreckage, he let go. The cement fell with a _crash_ , right where the billionaire had been mere seconds before.

Now that he was free of the debris, Stark tried pushing himself to his feet. His legs were shaky though, and he could tell that they were barely holding his weight. He glanced down at the piece of metal sticking into his leg and noticed that his entire pant leg was practically red. He thought briefly about removing it, but he knew that without that in place as a crude plug, he would lose a lot more blood than he already had, and that wasn't something he could afford. So instead, he grit his teeth and grabbed a metal pole about six feet long and used it as a makeshift crutch, slowly picking his way through the debris as he made his way down the hallway to where the suits were stored.

It took longer than he wanted, but finally Stark made it. He stared at the suits, holding back a curse as he stared at the thick bulletproof glass that enclosed the cases, which was held shut by an electronic lock, which was now fried thanks to the EMP.

He hobbled his way over to a computer console, even though he knew that any and all electronics were useless. However, there were a few tricks up Tony's sleeve. For one, as he'd told Pepper earlier, his suits were set to reboot mere moments after an attack like this, and they weren't the only ones.

"Jarvis?" Stark asked. He knew the AI took longer to reboot, especially with all the information he had stored, so he didn't actually know when or even if Jarvis was back online.

After a slightly prolonged silence, Stark felt a wave of relief as the AI replied. "I am here, Sir. Your vitals are in dangerous ranges; might I suggest that we somehow contact an emergency team? Maybe Colonel Rhodes could be contacted?"

"Can suggest all you like," Stark said in a clipped sentence. "Not doing anything till we get Pepper back. 'Sides. EMP, remember? Knocked out all communication."

"Not for long, Sir," came the smooth reply. "I'm currently working on rebooting any communication systems I have in my emergency backup."

"Hold that thought, J," Stark ordered.

"Sir?"

"Scan any nearby cameras for signs of Pepper. I need to know where she is."

"Yes, Sir." After a moment of silence, Jarvis spoke in his even tone again. "Are you sure we shouldn't take care of you first, Sir? Your leg is showing severe signs of trauma, and the probability of an infection at this time is seventy-eight point three percent."

"I'm good J," Stark interrupted. "Find Pepper. Also, get me a suit."

"That may take some time, Sir."

"Make it snappy."

Once again, there was a slightly pregnant pause before Jarvis answered. "Yes, Sir."

With Jarvis busy running his various programs, Stark hobbled his way over to a cabinet, where Pepper has insisted that Stark keep at least a basic first aid kit, for when Tony inevitably hurt himself designing and testing his new tech.

"Always lookin' out for me," Stark muttered to himself as he grabbed the materials he needed.

"Sir, I really must insist that we get your leg looked at professionally."

"We're still on that? No can do, Jarvis. I'll be fine."

"We may need to work on your definition of that word, Sir."

"Later. Right now, I'm still not seeing any suit."

Jarvis once again quieted down, though Stark could swear that it was a sulking silence.

After getting the medical material he needed, Stark held his breath and prepared to grab the rebar with one hand, while he held a thick cloth in the other to try and staunch the blood flow as soon as the rebar was removed.

Stark stood there, trying to convince himself to just reach down and pull it out. It was almost like his arm was refusing his brain's commands.

"Sir, if I may suggest, studies show that removing things at an unexpected time may help—"

The rest of Jarvis' suggestion was cut off when Stark let out a yell as he grabbed and pulled the rebar. The piece of metal came out of his leg with a sickening _slurp_ , and Tony sat there for a moment, frozen in pain.

"Sir, it might help to cover and apply pressure to the wound." The AI sounded as worried as one could be when you were a machine, but it did jerk Tony out of his pained stupor, and he looked down at his leg, which had indeed begun leaking blood at an alarmingly accelerated rate. Stark stared for another second, then pressed the cloth that he was holding over the wound, wincing as he applied more pressure.

The pain was excruciating, and black spots danced in front of his vision, but Stark forced himself to stay focused as he reached over for some of the disinfectant liquid in the kit. He opened the bottle one-handed and turned it over slightly to let the contents come out.

The instant the liquid touched his skin, Tony blacked out. The pain was unbearable. When he woke up, he was on the floor.

"—Sir?" Jarvis was speaking, but Tony ignored his AI, grabbing the workbench and lifting himself back up to an upright position instead. His head was spinning, and he felt like he was going to be sick. He had to close his eyes to stave off the nausea, but as soon as the feeling passed, he was once again reaching for the medical kit.

Searching through the box revealed a needle and thread for stitching. With hands shaking from the shock and blood loss, Stark threaded the needle as fast as he could and began sewing up the hole in his thigh, at least enough to stop the bleeding. It wasn't the most beautiful stitching job, but Tony knew it was the best he could do with the time he could afford. After he finished stitching himself up, he grabbed some ace bandages and began covering his wound.

First, he put the same cloth he'd been using before over the wound, then wrapped the ace bandage around it, securing it in place with a couple small clips. It wouldn't hold forever, but Stark knew he couldn't waste any more time on himself. Pepper was the main goal here. Speaking of…

"How's everything comin', J?"

"Almost ready, Sir. I would still highly suggest waiting for a medical team, and send the authorities—"

"Not happening. Now, I'm still without a suit and location?"

"Just a moment, Sir."

While Stark was waiting, he rummaged through his workbench. Wedged in the back corner was a small piece of one of the Iron Man armor.

"J, program the suit to go wherever this piece is," he instructed as he slipped it into his pocket.

"Of course, Sir. You should have a suit any time now."

True to his word, within a few minutes, one of the suits finally managed to break through the glass. It lost a piece of its arm, but another suit just broke through the hole and proceeded to engulf Tony.

"I believe I have located Miss Potts, Sir."

"Great. Send it to the suit."

"Sir, the man who abducted Miss Potts made no efforts to hide his tracks. This suggests that all of this is a trap."

"He'd be dumb not to have a trap set," Stark muttered darkly. "If I know about it though, it won't catch me by surprise."

"Sir, I must strongly advise against this once again."

"Concern is noted, J, but it's not gonna stop me. You comin' with me or no?"

"I am always with you, Sir."

"That's right." It wasn't meant to be an arrogant reply. Tony knew the risks, but he also knew that Pepper was in danger, and at the moment, he was her best chance for rescue.

"Location is downloaded to the suit, Sir."

"Up, up, and away," Stark muttered before firing up the suit. He blasted a hole through the wall with a repulsor beam, then flew out into the open air. As he soared higher and higher, he glanced back and saw the house and how damaged it was. _Not as bad as Malibu,_ he thought, trying to stay on the positive side of things.

When an alert popped up on his HUD telling him that they were approaching the location Jarvis suspected Pepper was being held, Stark looked down. He was slightly surprised to see that they were above an old junkyard and demolition site.

"Jarvis, you're sure you're rebooted completely?"

"Yes, Sir. This is where I believe the intruder hid Miss Potts."

"Start a scan for any human life," Tony instructed as he passed over the junkyard.

"Yes, Sir."

As he flew over the junkyard, Stark's suit detected something coming at him fast. Before he could do any evasive maneuvering though, an extremely large and heavy object smacked into the billionaire. Tony went careening through the air, spinning head over heels. He smacked into a light pole and fell to the ground face down.

"What-what was that?" he grunted out, trying to figure out which aching part of his body needed the most attention.

"It appears to be a wrecking ball, Sir. I'm detecting multiple contusions across your torso, along with a cracked ulna bone."

"Add it to the list," Stark muttered, referring to the other injuries he'd sustained in the attack on his house. Shaking his head to try and clear his vision as well as get rid of the ringing in his ears, Stark took to the skies again, this time prepared for the wrecking ball headed his way.

As he dodged the massive destructive tool, Stark could have sworn he heard the faint chorus of "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus blasting on a crackly PA system, and he swore that he was gonna knock the stranger into next Tuesday with the wrecking ball himself.

As Tony dodged the wrecking ball, his arm began throbbing. "J, gimme some compression on the arm," he instructed. The AI did as requested, and soon the pain in Tony's arm was merely irritating instead of overwhelmingly distracting.

"Jarvis, hows that scan coming?" Tony asked as he raised his uninjured hand to fire a repulsor beam at the chain holding the wrecking ball. However, he considered the fact that he still didn't know where Pepper was, and he didn't want the wrecking ball to fall and crush her on accident. So instead, he just continued to doge the heavy metal item, never able to get close enough to get the stranger out of the operator's seat.

"I believe I have found Miss Potts, Sir."

"Well don't keep it a secret, J!" Tony groused as he once again dodged out of the way of the wrecking ball. A section of Tony's HUD lit up off to the left, highlighting a car set on some sort of platform. He suddenly heard a massive sound of metal grinding on metal, and the billionaire realized that Pepper was stuck in a compactor. A compactor that had just been turned on.

With that realization, he let his guard down for a split second too long, and the wrecking ball came around again for another round, and Tony was too distracted to move out of the way fast enough.

Stark was thrown to the ground, but thankfully he was smacked down closer to the compactor. Tony saw the beater car already starting to get flattened, and he immediately flew towards the car. When he reached it, he pushed as hard as he could, deploying anything he could think of to help him get more force behind his shove.

Finally the car began moving, though the loud shrieking of metal on metal was grating in Tony's ears. With a yell and a final shove, Tony got the car free of the compactor's clutches, and he watched in relief as the car landed on all four tires, safely on the ground. The billionaire tried to get out of the compactor himself, but found that he was unable to move. He glanced back and saw that the two sheets of metal had already caught his leg without him noticing, and no matter how hard he pulled and fired his thrusters, his suit was stuck. He knew if he didn't act fast, he'd be flatter than a pancake in less than a minute.

"Open!" Tony ordered, trying to catch his breath. The suit complied and opened as much as possible, giving Tony just enough room to dive out of the suit currently being crushed by the compactor. For a split second, Stark thought his foot was stuck, but one final yank freed him completely, and he tumbled to the ground.

His broken arm pulsed as it lost the compression from the suit, and his leg was throbbing mercilessly. The sound of crunching metal entered Tony's ears, and he turned on the ground to watch as his suit was reduced to a metal pancake.

Tony cursed under his breath, then pushed himself to his feet, using only his uninjured arm. The arm with the cracked ulna was now unprotected, and Stark cradled it against his chest as he moved towards the car Pepper was trapped in. His ankle was also hurting slightly after being caught in the compactor, and Tony felt something wet dripping down his thigh. He had a feeling that if the stitches on his leg hadn't been torn out already, they were close. However, he put his own needs aside as he reached the car he'd rescued.

"Pepper?" Tony called out.

"Tony!"

"I've got you!"

"Tony, I'm in here!"

"Don't worry, I'm gonna get you out." Stark looked at the trunk, trying to decide if he could pry it open, but he knew without the suit it would be more difficult. He hurried over to the driver's side, barely noticing his limp. The driver's door was locked, but Tony didn't let that deter him. The glass looked brittle enough that he hoped what he was about to do wouldn't hurt as much as he was thinking it was going to.

He didn't think about the pain though. All he was thinking about was getting Pepper out of the trunk and getting the two of them out of there. Wasting no more time, Tony looked away and smashed his elbow into the window. It hurt just as much as he was worried it would, but he simply brushed the remaining glass away from the door and off his elbow, ignoring the blood that coated his fingers when he brushed the shards off his elbow.

Before he could actually pop the trunk though, Stark happened to glance in the side mirror and saw the man who'd attacked them and kidnapped Pepper advancing on him with a thick metal pipe. Stark's eyes widened, and he ducked as the man took a swing at the billionaire's head. The pipe made a whistling sound as it whizzed above him, but in the split second that occurred between his attacker actually swinging the pipe and bringing it back around for another round, Tony straightened and backed away from the stranger.

As he stepped away, something in the sky caught the billionaire's attention, and he had to stop himself from smirking. His mood change was lost on the stranger.

"I hope you know this is nothing personal, Tony."

"Gotta say, it feels a little personal. And why do you get to know my name, but I don't get the same courtesy?" Stark was just trying to buy himself time now.

"I guess it's only fair you know the name of the person who killed you. The name's Ted Calloway."

"Do I know you from somewhere?"

"Not remotely."

"...Okay you got me. I'm lost."

"Let's just say that someone out there is willing to pay a lot of money for your head." Calloway dropped the pipe and pulled out a gun from the waistband of his pants, which he proceeded to level at Tony.

His time was up, and Tony knew it. However, Tony could see confusion in Calloway's eyes as the billionaire simply held his arms out in a t-shape, as if welcoming the bullet. Calloway turned and looked behind him, and his face contorted into an expression of rage as he saw the suit flying through the air towards them, thanks to the piece of suit still in Tony's pocket. The hit man turned and fired his gun, pulling the trigger right as the suit whipped past him and engulfed the billionaire completely.

Without wasting another second, Tony backhanded Calloway, sending the man flying head over heels into one of the nearby cars, at which point he slumped over in unconsciousness. With that problem taken care of, Stark stalked back to the trunk of the car Pepper was in. He grabbed the the lip of the trunk, crushing it in his metal fingers as he jerked his hand upwards. The hood came off with no effort, and Stark tossed it aside.

Pepper was lying inside with her hands tied behind her back, and Tony gently helped her out. The ropes snapped like thread when he tugged at them. As soon as her hands were free, she threw her arms around Tony.

"It's okay," he said. "I got you."

"I heard a gunshot," Pepper said as she let Stark go and looked up at him.

"Yep, that was Calloway. The guy that attacked us."

"It was Calloway as in he got shot, or Calloway did the shooting?"

"That would be the latter choice," Tony answered evasively.

"Well, are you okay?" Pepper asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Tony's voice sounded slightly strange, and Pepper didn't look convinced, but Stark continued. "Speaking of Calloway..." The billionaire turned in the direction the stranger had landed, firing wires from his suit and wrapping them around Calloway's chest and legs.

"Hey J, how's the communications line coming?"

"We are ready for calls, Sir."

"Good. Call Rhodey, tell him he's got a package waiting here for him."

"Yes, Sir."

The billionaire took a couple steps forward after his AI agreed, but almost immediately stumbled in the suit.

"Tony?" Pepper asked in concern. "Tony, what's wrong?"

Tony let out a grunt as he opened the suit, revealing an expanding red stain on his left shoulder. He looked up at Pepper with a look that only Tony Stark could pull off after lying about being shot. "I may have exaggerated how 'fine' I am."

After that explanation, Tony's eyes drifted shut, the blood loss and pain finally taking their full toll on the billionaire.

"Tony!" Pepper exclaimed, trying to steady her boyfriend as he collapsed.

"Mr. Stark has suffered severe damage and trauma to his person, and requires immediate medical attention."

"Get us out of here, Jarvis!" Pepper ordered.

"Of course, Miss Potts." The suit, seemingly acting on its own accord, closed back around Tony, then straightened up and grabbed Pepper in its arms before taking off for the skies.

"Shall I take us to the Avengers medical center, or somewhere closer?"

Pepper had to clear hair out of her mouth as she answered. "Take us wherever's closer."

"The closest hospital is Metro-General Hospital. I'll alert the staff to clear a floor."

It took them seven minutes to get to Met-Gen, but when they arrived and the suit touched down on the ground, they were greeted by the staff, assuring them that they were being taken to a private wing of the hospital. Pepper stepped away from the suit as she regained her footing on solid ground, then turned and watched the suit with a worried expression.

The suit opened up and deposited Tony into the waiting arms of the nurses, who immediately got him settled on a gurney they'd brought with them and began wheeling him back into the building. Once they were inside, they took off down a hall, but when Pepper tried to follow them, one of the other nurses stopped her, insisting that she get checked out too. The redhead argued against it, insisting that she could wait, but the nurse wasn't having it. Eventually, the staff won, and they escorted the redhead to her own examination room. Pepper followed all the nurses instructions automatically, though she wasn't really paying attention to the woman in front of her. The only thing she could think about was Tony being wheeled away, hoping that he was going to be okay.

 _ **Okay, so I don't know how I feel about this chapter. I kinda felt like peopler were OOC maybe? Not sure, what do you guys think?**_

 _ **Also, I took some creative licensing with the EMP and how it effected the suits and Jarvis, so I know it's probably not realistic, but there ya go XD**_

 _ **Let me know what you think, and let me know if you want me to keep going!**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Hey hey! Please see the AN at the bottom of the chapter! Also, sorry this chapter is shorter than the others!**_

 _ **I don't own Marvel or their characters.**_

"Pepper," Rhodey said, catching up to the woman as she walked down the hallway. When she heard her name, she paused and turned around.

"Hey," the redhead greeted tiredly. Rhodey took in her slightly frazzled and disheveled countenance and thought about suggesting she get some rest, but thought better of it.

"What happened?!"

"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure," Pepper admitted. "There was an explosion at the house, Tony was trapped, and then whoever this Calloway is showed up and drugged us both. The next thing I know, I'm waking up in the trunk of a car being crushed."

"Why didn't you call anyone?"

"EMP," Pepper said, rubbing her forehead as if trying to stave off a headache. "Fried everything electronic in the house."

"And you have no idea who Calloway is or why he attacked you two?"

"You would have been the first person to find out if I did," Pepper pointed out.

"Yeah well, he'll tell us everything he knows if I have anything to say about it," Rhodey muttered darkly.

"You're a good friend, Rhodey," Pepper said with a tired smile, rubbing his arm lightly. There was a short moment of silence before Rhodey looked down the hallway.

"How is he?" the colonel asked.

"I was just about to check on him," Pepper replied. "Do you want to come?"

"You go ahead. I'm gonna go talk to the doctors and see what he needs. I'll stop by and see you guys real quick after that, but then I'm going to go have a chat with Calloway."

Pepper nodded in agreement, and the two of them parted ways, Rhodey going to find a doctor while Pepper went to see how Tony was doing.

 _0-0-0_

Freezing water forced its way down his throat, and nothing Tony did could stop it. He bucked and struggled under the weight of the men holding him, but a kick to his midsection made him gasp, allowing more water to surge into his mouth.

The cold water splashed against his chest, sending an electrifying pain across his flesh. He tried to yell in pain, but the only thing that came out of his mouth were air bubbles.

Just as Tony was starting to go limp, he was finally dragged out of the tub and thrown to the floor. He shook his head and spit water out of his mouth, coughing violently as he tried to clear his lungs. As he was trying to expel the water, Stark happened to glance down, and the sight of the arc reactor back in his chest made his chest tighten. It wasn't even the newer version of the arc reactor; it was the very first one, that Yinsen had put in him, every detail exactly the same, down to the car battery powering it. Now Tony knew why the water had hurt so much as he saw the burn marks peppering his chest.

He couldn't help the slightly panicked gasps that escaped his throat as he took everything in. He recognized where he was. He would never forget this cave as long as he lived.

"Tony."

Stark recognized that voice, and he looked over and saw Hammer walking towards him, carrying a wrecking ball like a balloon. The billionaire tried standing up, prepared to fight back, but he was stuck in place and couldn't move. He concentrated as hard as he could and managed to lift his arm, but other than that, he couldn't do anything. Hammer reached him with inhuman speed, and as Tony looked at the man, he couldn't tell if it was Hammer anymore. It seemed to be switching between him, Obadiah, and even Aldrich Killian.

"Did you really think you could get away from us?" the man asked. He sounded simultaneously like one voice and three separate voices all at once. "No matter where you go, Tony, you'll never be able to escape the legacy you created. All those weapons you sold, all those lives you destroyed? That's your legacy." That voice sounded most like Obadiah.

"You think that just because you parade around with a bunch of other heroes, it automatically makes you one?" That was Killian. Now the being was right in front of Tony, and try as he might, he still couldn't move to fight back.

The person reached out and placed a hand on Tony's face, and when Stark looked up, it was very clearly one of the Chitauri.

"You're ours, Stark. One day, very soon, we'll be back, and nothing you do will be enough to stop us from destroying everything you love."

Stark growled at the entity and jerked, still trying to fight back. Suddenly there was a sharp pain in his chest, and when Stark looked down, he was horrified to see that the reactor had been removed, and he could actually feel the shrapnel moving through his chest. He grunted in pain, but was frozen and unable to do anything to stop the pain.

"Tony, stop fighting."

That voice was different. That voice was familiar, safe.

"Tony? Listen to me, you're fine."

That had to be a lie. Whoever was talking obviously couldn't see where he was, who he was with, or what was happening to him.

"Tony, you need to wake up!"

The voice was firm, but gentle, and the words spoken struck a chord with him. Wake up? Stark looked at his surroundings, and things suddenly began disappearing. The only thing that stayed in very sharp focus was the being in front of him, leering as they watched the billionaire struggle.

"Tony? Tony!"

With a start, Stark's eyes shot open. His brain tried to process everything it was taking in. He was in a white, unfamiliar room, on what felt like a very hard bed, and he felt someone holding his arms. Finding he had his mobility back, he began fighting against whoever was holding him.

"Tony, Tony, stop! Stop, you're safe! Hey, it's me."

That was the same familiar voice from his dream. Tony jerked his head towards the direction the voice came from, hissing in pain as his entire body begged him to stop moving.

As soon as he saw who the voice belonged to, the billionaire stopped fighting and went limp, giving his body a reprieve that it was grateful for. Pepper smiled at him, rubbing his hand with her thumb.

"Where'm I?" Tony asked, his words slurring together slightly as he tried to fully comprehend what was going on. "Wh't '-appened?"

"Well, apparently you pushed yourself past your limit with your laundry list of injuries, and you passed out. You're at Met-Gen hospital," Pepper explained, lightly berating him.

"You're okay?"

Pepper smiled at her boyfriend. "I'm fine," she assured him.

"You're sure?"

"Tony, I wasn't the one who was impaled with a rod, shot, and apparently hit with a wrecking ball and crushed in a compactor."

"Been through worse," Tony brushed off, though he could see Pepper wasn't buying his bravado. He tried moving his left arm, but something stopped him. When he looked down, he was slightly surprised to see not only a sling keeping his arm close to his chest so that he wouldn't exacerbate the bullet wound in his left shoulder, but also a cast encasing his left arm. And not just any cast; it was an iron man design. He looked back at Pepper with raised eyebrows.

"Your arm was broken, they needed to set it," she said with a shrug. "The design was my idea," she added with a smile.

"Then I guess I can't be too upset?"

"Nope," Pepper said smugly. Her gaze softened after a moment. "You lost a lot of blood, Tony. You should have gotten yourself taken care of first."

"Not an option," Stark stated simply. "You come first."

"I can't come before your own health, Tony. I-"

"You are the most important thing in my life," Stark interrupted. Pepper opened her mouth to argue, but Stark continued. "No, let me finish. Without you, nothing makes sense. You are my rock, Pep, and I'd be lost without you. Besides, I'm alive, aren't I?"

Pepper stared at her boyfriend in half exasperation, half adoration. "Scoot over," she finally said.

"Scoot over?"

"You heard me, now scooch."

Stark put up a very minimal argument as Pepper eased herself onto the bed next to him, curling into his right side, doing her best to avoid any injuries that she could. Stark used his uninjured right arm and wrapped it around Pepper's shoulders, pulling her in closer.

"I don't want to hurt you," she protested as she felt how close he was pulling her in.

"You can't hurt me. Besides, if you were worried about that, you shoulda thought about it before you got in my very small hospital bed. What hospital are we at, anyway? As soon as we get out, I'm donating money so they can get bigger beds here. Actually, why wait? Let's do it now-"

"Tony," Pepper said, planting a kiss on his cheek. "I love you. But the doctors said you need to rest."

"I don't need rest, I'm fine," Stark replied, though he didn't fight back as hard as he could have. Having Pepper nestled against him helped him feel more at ease, and even though the nightmare still lingered at the front of his memory, the redhead next to him helped him feel more relaxed.

"You do need sleep, and I'll have them come in and drug you up if you don't at least try."

At Stark's contemplative silence, Pepper looked up at her boyfriend exasperatedly. "Or I could do something more drastic that I know you'd be less than willing to endure," she threatened, her tone letting Tony know that she wasn't kidding.

He didn't say anything, but he did try to relax, and Pepper could feel it, so she leaned herself back into his grip and closed her eyes.

Try as he did to stay awake, Tony's body had taken a beating, and against his wishes, his eyes began drifting closed. Soon, the two of them were breathing in sync. They were asleep in each other's arms when Rhodes stopped by the room twenty minutes later, and after taking a look inside, a small smile touched his lips. He decided he would come back later, and he turned to walk away.

 _ **Okay, so. One of two options can happen here:**_

 _ **One: I can stop posting the story here, leave off on a cute (or at least, I think it's cute) Pepperony moment and let them enjoy it, or**_

 _ **Two: Continue the story on for a little longer.**_

 _ **Which would you guys prefer?**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Okay, so I'm going to continue the story I guess xD This chapter felt a little weird to me, so let me know if you guys think I can improve anywhere. I'm always open to constructive criticism, but I will ignore flames.**_

 ** _Enjoy!_**

The group of men stared at the woman standing across from them, waiting to hear the rest of her argument.

"All I'm saying is, Calloway failed," the woman stated. "If he failed once, who's to say he won't again? You know my reputation; you know I won't fail."

The group of three people stared between her and each other. Their expressions showed they were clearly having some sort of silent conversation, and not knowing what they were thinking was driving the woman slightly mad. Finally they turned back to her.

"We will honor our contract with Calloway," one of the men said. The woman opened her mouth to argue, but the same man held up his hand. "However, we do agree that Calloway's performance was less than expected. The offer is now extended to you. Whoever gets to them first will be the one who gets paid. I would get moving if I were you, Ms. Frost. Calloway's already got a substantial head start on you."

"I don't need a headstart," Frost muttered as she turned and strode out of the room. She knew where Stark was, and she had every intention of getting to him before Calloway.

 _0-0-0_

Tony knew something was wrong the instant the lights went out. He had woken up a few minutes before, but Pepper was still nestled next to him, and he didn't want to wake her up, so he hadn't moved. However, when the room suddenly went dark, his eyes popped open, and he looked around.

Nothing really seemed out of place, but Tony just had a feeling that something was wrong. He began shifting, preparing to get up, but his movements woke Pepper.

"What's wrong?" she asked as she looked around the dark room.

"Nothing. Power outage," Stark said, wishing he could actually convince her _that_ was true.

"Tony…"

"I'm sure nothing's wrong," he lied. He began to get out of bed, but Pepper put her hand on his shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"To see if they need help. Their backup generators haven't kicked in yet."

"Tony, you can't get out of bed," she insisted.

"I am perfectly capable of moving around," he argued.

"No, you're not!"

Their argument would have continued, but at that moment, the door opened and a nurse hurried in.

"Hey, what's going on?" Stark asked, pausing his attempts to leave his bed.

"We need to get you two out of here," the nurse replied, sounding rushed.

"What's going on?" Pepper's voice was laced with worry, but Stark could have sworn he detected a touch of suspicion as well.

"Ted Calloway overpowered his detail and escaped custody," the nurse explained. "You're being transported to the Avengers medical facility. There's a helicopter waiting on the roof for you."

 _0-0-0_

The nurse opened the door to the roof, and sure enough, a helicopter was waiting on the pad. The pilot got out when he saw the patients and nurse coming his way.

It was too loud to talk with the chopper blades spinning around, so the pilot simply led them over and opened the door, helping Pepper step up inside. Once she was inside, she held out her hand to help Stark climb in, and despite his protests that he could do it himself, he did eventually take her hand.

Once they were safely inside the helicopter, the pilot shut the door and began walking around towards his side so he could climb in as well. As he opened the door though, Stark caught a flash of movement behind the pilot. The movement had barely processed in the genius's mind when the pilot's eyes rolled up into the back of his head. His hands released their hold on the chopper and he collapsed onto the ground.

Pepper let out a surprised shout, but before either she or Stark could make a move to get out of the helicopter, the nurse that had helped them up to the roof climbed in, only this time she was holding a gun.

Stark immediately tried reaching for the handle to open the door, but a loud _bang_ paired with a sudden hole in the door near his hand made him rethink that choice. Pepper cried out in surprise when the gun went off, and she covered her ears. Stark immediately reached his right hand and stretched it across Pepper's body, trying to put any part of him that he could in front of her.

The nurse gave Tony a hard look and shook her head, silently warning him not to try anything stupid.

After making sure that neither of her passengers were going to try and be heroic, she lifted the helicopter off the ground and flew away.

As they travelled, Stark could feel how tense the redhead next to him was. He reached over again and grabbed her hand in his, squeezing it reassuringly.

After only about seven minutes of flying, Stark felt the chopper dip in elevation, and he realized they were beginning their descent. He and Pepper made eye contact, and he looked knowingly at the throttle.

Pepper followed his gaze and then flicked her eyes back to Tony, who inclined his head slightly. The redhead looked back at the throttle, taking in a deep breath and closing her eyes, trying to amp herself up for what she was about to do.

They were about twenty feet off the ground when Pepper opened her eyes and lunged forward, grabbing the throttle and yanking it to the side. The movement was so sudden that the nurse wasn't able to take any preventative measures, and the gun was knocked out of her grip as she was thrown to the side. The seatbelts prevented all of them from being tossed around the helicopter as the two women struggled for control of the machine, even though Pepper didn't actually know how to fly.

The ground was approaching rapidly, and Stark yelled at Pepper to brace herself, hoping that she could hear him, because at that moment the chopper hit the ground with a sudden, jarring halt. Stark hit his head on the window and immediately blacked out.

 _0-0-0_

"Tony?"

The call was slightly muted, but Stark recognized the voice. He opened his eyes slowly and looked around. Someone was shaking his arm, and he glanced to his left and found Pepper trying to wake him up. The nurse was leaning against the side of the helicopter door, a small cut on her forehead trickling blood. Slightly dazed, Tony realized Pepper was speaking again, trying to get his attention. Thankfully his hearing had returned to normal, so he was able to actually hear what the redhead was saying.

"Tony, we have to get out of here!"

Stark nodded jerkily. For a moment, he thought about helping the unconscious nurse, but when he looked at Pepper again and saw a cut above her eyebrow, as well as some blood on her lip, he suddenly didn't feel any overwhelming desire to help her get out. Instead, he reached his right hand out, trying to find the latch for the chopper door. He turned his head and looked for it, and when he finally found it, he was able to pop the door open. His coordination was somewhat lacking, and he didn't exit the helicopter as gracefully as he would have liked. In fact, it took every ounce of his strength and mobility to not fall flat on his face.

Trying to avoid using his injured extremities as much as possible, Stark only used his good arm to push himself up to his knees, taking the weight on his left side to avoid the wound from the rebar, then turned to look back at the chopper. While he was turned around, he noticed that they'd crashed in a heavily wooded area, and the chopper had taken a heavy beating from the strong old trees. Not that the trees themselves didn't have a few new scars, but the chopper was definitely more damaged. The rotator blades were broken into jagged pieces, the body of the machine had gouges in it, and the whole thing was covered in leaves and twigs.

Pepper climbed out of the chopper behind Tony, and her exit was much more graceful than his had been. When she got out, she hurried over to him.

"I'm sorry, I thought that's what your look meant!" Pepper said out as she helped Tony back to his feet.

"No, that's exactly what it meant," Stark grunted. His injured arm and shoulder were throbbing, but thankfully, the doctor's stitches seemed to be holding up much better than his own attempts had.

"Are you okay?" Pepper asked as she put a steadying hand on Tony's right arm. He looked down at his battered body, then back at his girlfriend.

"Never been better."

Pepper responded to his sarcasm with an unamused stare. Deciding he should quit while he was only slightly behind, Stark cleared his throat.

"We should probably … keep moving," he suggested, holding out his hand to take Pepper's. The redhead put her hand in his and helped him the rest of the way to his feet, then they began walking away from the wreckage. Before they'd gone very far though, Pepper let out a short cry of surprise and fell, jerking Tony to the ground on accident.

He fell on his right side, so his arm and shoulder were safe, but his injured leg protested painfully at the treatment. Stark wasn't worried about himself though. "Pepper?"

She had released his hand and was now grabbing at her ankle. Stark reached forward and gently rolled her pants leg up, and both of them winced when they saw the red and swollen flesh surrounding her ankle.

"Must have happened in the crash," Pepper guessed, squeezing her eyes tight as another wave of pain rolled over the joint.

"We need to get it stabilized before we go anywhere."

"Can we at least get away from here?" Pepper asked, glancing back towards the wrecked chopper and crazy unconscious nurse inside.

Stark huffed and debated inside his head for a moment, but he finally nodded. "Fine," he agreed. He took her arm and put it over his uninjured side, though his bullet wound still throbbed painfully at the added pressure.

"I can walk," Pepper insisted, trying to pull away from Stark so she wouldn't hurt him.

"You put weight on that and it's gonna get more damaged. Let's just get far enough away from Nurse Ratched here, then we'll splint it."

Pepper continued to protest, but Tony simply began walking. In the end, they both ended up using each other for support as they made their way through the woods.

"You didn't happen to get a phone before we left the hospital, did you?" Stark asked. Pepper reached into her pocket and pulled out a cell phone, but it had been crushed and cracked, once again probably due to the crash. The billionaire's mouth slanted as he observed the smashed device. He took the phone in his broken hand and hit the power button, but he knew even without doing that that the phone was dead.

"Alright, trekking on it is," Stark muttered determinedly.

They made their way through the trees, unsure exactly of where they were going, but just wanting to put as much distance between them and Florence Nightmareingale as possible. Pepper opened her mouth to ask Tony something, but before she could get the words out, they heard something.

"Shh, shh, shh," Tony said quietly, stopping where he stood, causing Pepper to pull to a stop too. The two of them looked around, trying to find the source of the noise. After a moment, Stark felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Instinctively, he jerked to the left, bringing Pepper with him. She let out a short yelp of surprise, but a shot rang out from behind them, whizzing right past the redhead. The bullet embedded itself in a tree just a short distance from where they'd been standing a few seconds before.

"Go!" Stark yelled. The two of them took off, limping their way through the trees away from whoever was shooting at them. Stark couldn't help but wonder how long it would take their attacker to catch up, since both he and Pepper had injured legs and weren't moving much faster than Dum-E on a good day. Finally, after about five minutes of hobbling/running as fast as they could, Tony pulled them to a stop, stepping behind a tree. It wasn't the best shield, but he'd take any shelter they could get.

Pepper's face contorted in pain as she bent down and grabbed at her ankle. "Do you think we lost them?" she asked, looking up at Stark.

"Not unless they're blind assassins," Stark muttered, staring at the trail he and Pepper had left in their wake. The billionaire looked back to the redhead and saw her massaging her ankle.

"Sit down," he instructed.

Pepper shook her head, trying to straighten up and walk forward. "We don't have time, Tony," she argued. Her foot caught on an uneven patch of ground though, and she let out a cry as she fell. Stark grabbed her arm with his right hand, trying to help her stay upright, even though it made him take in a sharp breath of pain.

Despite the pain he was feeling, Stark couldn't help the somewhat-amused-but-mostly-I-was-right look that settled on his face. "Look, just don't fight me on this."

Pepper hesitated a moment longer, but finally she nodded in consent and eased herself to the ground.

"What about your leg?" Pepper asked as Stark came over.

"It's not a joint that supports my weight," he shot back. "I can manage. You need that splinted."

He had to keep his injured leg straightened out to avoid it hurting, but thankfully he didn't have to do things one-handed. He grabbed two thicker sticks that would work for a splint, then handed them to Pepper. "Put these on either side of your ankle," he instructed.

"I know how to make a splint, Tony," Pepper replied somewhat drily, taking the sticks from his hands.

Once Pepper was bracing her ankle, Stark reached up and removed his shoulder sling.

"Tony," Pepper protested, taking the sticks away from her ankle.

"I'll be fine," Stark insisted. "You need it more than I do." He raised his eyebrows expectantly at her when she still didn't put the sticks back, and after a minute of staring at each other, she finally gave in with a resigned sigh.

Stark wrapped the material around Pepper's ankle, muttering apologies when he noticed her wincing. Once it was as tight as he dared make it, he took the strap and wrapped it around the ankle as well before tying it in a knot to secure the makeshift brace in place.

"Better?" he asked as he held out his hand to help her up. She gripped it and he helped pull her to her feet, tilting slightly to one side when she let go. He righted himself before he could fall over though.

"Better," Pepper agreed, reaching out her hand to help stabilize her boyfriend.

"Can you walk?"

Pepper took a few experimental steps to show that she could indeed walk, even though she had a limp as she did so.

"I'm good," she confirmed.

"You are good," Stark agreed. Since Pepper was much more mobile now, she didn't have to put as much weight on her boyfriend as she had before as they made their way through the trees.

"Do you know where we're going?" Pepper asked after a few minutes.

Stark spared a glance to his side as he looked at his girlfriend. "Away from the people with guns," was all he said in reply.

A few minutes later, Stark was glancing behind them to see if their pursuer was anywhere near, and he didn't see the root sticking out of the ground until after he'd tripped on it.

"Tony?" Pepper's voice was worried, and Tony had to blink away the spots dancing in front of his vision as he looked up at his girlfriend. He thought he was giving her a reassuring look, but with the stare Pepper gave him in return, he figured it was coming across more as a grimace.

"I'll be—"

"Tony, I swear if you say 'fine' one more time—"

"Who said I was gonna say fine?"

"Where you going to say something else?"

"...maybe?"

"Tony…"

"I'm sorry," he said, taking the redhead by surprise slightly. She could see in his eyes that he wasn't just apologizing for their small argument. "I'm sorry you're in this mess. You deserve so much better."

"Tony, stop."

"No, Pep, you don't understand, I—"

"No, Tony. It's you who doesn't understand. You're not keeping me here against my will. If I wanted to leave, believe me. I would. But I love _you_ , Tony. Even with all this," she added, gesturing to the forest around them.

"You're talking about just this instance in particular, or does the forest signify everything crappy that's happened?"

"Don't ruin the moment Tony," Pepper chided lightly.

"Sorry." After a brief pause, Stark continued. "I love you too."

Pepper smiled warmly at her boyfriend, then reached down and helped him to his feet. After she brushed some of the dirt off of his clothes, they turned to walk away. At least, until they heard twigs snapping somewhere nearby.

"Stop!" a voice yelled off to the right. Stark and Pepper froze, turning slowly to see Nurse Ratched standing there, blood still trickling down from the cut on her forehead. She was pointing her gun in their direction, and before either of them could say or do anything, she squeezed the trigger, and a shot rang out.

 _ **Lemme know what you guys think!**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Lol well I'm glad you guys are happy I continued the story XD that makes me feel good.**_

 _ **So there's this chapter and then one other one, and that will be the end to my first Iron Man story.**_

 _ **I don't own the characters.**_

Tony flinched and moved to shield Pepper from the bullet, but when a shout of pain came from behind them, Stark turned his head and saw Ted Calloway standing behind them. Or, Tony assumed he had been standing. He was currently on the ground clutching his leg, his own gun dropped next to him.

The nurse hurried over to the downed man, grabbing his gun and sticking it in the back of her scrubs. She also knelt down and delivered a punch to the man's face hard enough that he fell unconscious immediately. She stood back up and turned to the two people she'd just saved.

"Come on," she yelled, gesturing with her gun for them to follow her. The billionaire and his girlfriend shared a look, then glanced over at Calloway before looking back at Florence Nightmareingale. After a moment, Tony and Pepper tried to take off the opposite direction, but their pursuer didn't have either of her legs injured, and she caught up with them within ten seconds.

"Stop," she said as she caught up, and then passed them, leveling her gun at them. "I'm trying to save you!" she insisted loudly.

"That gun seems to be telling a different story," Stark pointed out, putting himself in front of Pepper. The nurse looked at the weapon in her hands, then at them. With a frustrated sigh, she put the gun in the back of her scrubs next to Calloway's.

"There," she said. "Believe me now?"

"No," Stark replied immediately. "But that might be a small attempt at a start." He paused for a second before continuing. "Wait, so you were telling the truth?" He sounded surprised. "Calloway is the one that cut the power at the hospital?"

"You think I shut off the power?" Whitney asked.

"I dunno, you did kidnap us," the billionaire reminded her.

Pepper cut in before Tony could antagonize the woman with the gun too badly. "Who are you?" she asked.

The nurse folded her arms and kept glancing behind them at Calloway as she answered. "All you need to know is that someone paid a lot of money to get you two out of the picture."

The shocked look on Pepper's face wasn't lost on the nurse, but she turned her attention to Stark as he spoke.

"That doesn't tell us who you are."

"I was one of the people hired to kill you. Calloway was the other."

"Why does someone want us dead?" Pepper asked. The nurse looked behind them, and Tony turned to see what she kept staring at. Calloway was still on the ground, but he had begun stirring, coming out of his unconscious state.

"Can we talk about this on the move?" the nurse asked impatiently. After casting another glance back at Calloway, Stark finally turned to her and nodded.

"Lead the way."

Pepper gave him an incredulous look, but a short shake of his head and a look in his eyes asked Pepper to trust him. She was hesitant to willingly go with the woman who had just tried to kidnap them, but she trusted Tony, so she finally nodded, and they followed the woman deeper into the woods.

 _0-0-0_

"Hey," Stark called out, trying to get the nurse's attention. "Florence Nightmareingale?"

"You can call me Whitney," the woman said as she stopped and turned to face Stark and Pepper. "Whitney Frost."

Stark was almost positive that was a fake ID, but he didn't push it. "Okay, good, so you do have a name. Care to explain what's going on now, Whitney?"

"I told you. Someone paid a lot of money to have the two of you taken out. They hired Calloway first. When he failed, I offered my services, but it was never my intention to hurt you."

"So you're an assassin too?"

"I prefer the term freelance entrepreneur," Whitney replied evenly.

"Why does someone want us dead?" Pepper asked, grabbing ahold of Tony's uninjured shoulder when she started to lose her balance. Whitney continued trekking through the trees without answering, and for a minute Tony and Pepper wondered if she was going to ignore the redhead's question, but she finally replied.

"I don't know everything, but from what I've gathered, someone purchased a massive amount of stock from your company. If you two were to die, they could potentially have a controlling interest in the company."

Stark shook his head. "Not possible. We know everyone who buys bulk stocks."

"That's why they bought them under different names," Whitney replied. "That way it's less conspicuous."

One of the words caught Pepper's attention, and she looked at Whitney in confusion. "Wait, they?" It was a subtle word, but crucial. "There's more than one?"

"It's a group, but only the chapter here in New York is actively trying to kill you. At least for now."

"I'm curious, how much did they offer?" Stark asked. Pepper stared at him incredulously. "What?" he asked innocently. "It's a valid question."

"Six million total," Whitney interjected. "Three mil a piece."

"And they want us dead to take over the company? Wow. Original."

"They're a powerful group. I wouldn't underestimate them," Frost cautioned. "They've taken down larger companies and figures than you and yours. Their ultimate goal is political power."

"Okay, but that still doesn't explain why you're doing this," Stark stated. "Six mil's a lot of money; coulda taken that and bought yourself a nice new life."

"It's...it's not about the money this time," she replied, not looking back at them.

"I'm confused. You're a bad guy who does things for money, but when six million dollars is on the line, you turn it down. Were you hoping we'd pay you that for saving us?" Stark asked.

"No. I said it's not about the money!" Whitney seemed slightly upset that they kept insinuating money had something to do with it, so Stark decided to leave that particular train station for the moment.

"So why do all this then?" Pepper asked.

Whitney finally stopped and turned, staring at the redhead. "My reasons are my own."

Pepper's lips pursed in a thin line. "We're putting our trust in you," she reminded Frost. "I think we have a right to know at least part of your reasoning."

Whitney glared at the redhead.

"Just a little bit of information," Stark cut in, trying to appease both women. "Just enough to go on."

Whitney stared at Stark, and she finally answered. "You saved my life once," she explained slowly, hesitantly. "I owed it to you."

"A life debt?" Tony asked in clarification. "Well. Never had someone actually cash in on one of those before." He clapped his hands together. "See?" he said to both women. "That wasn't so hard." Neither of them replied, but Whitney turned and began moving again. Tony and Pepper moved to keep up.

"So what's the plan then?" Stark asked after another moment. "You got a cell phone?"

Whitney shook her head. "No, but we're not far to the safe house I was taking you to initially. It's got a landline."

"Landline," Tony repeated, obviously impressed that someone still used something so 'old tech.' Impressed or dismayed.

"How far away is it?" Pepper asked. She had noticed Tony's breathing becoming more labored the longer they walked, and she knew his leg had to be killing him.

"Just a few more minutes," Whitney called back.

True to her word, no more than five minutes had passed before a rustic-looking cabin appeared in their view.

They were only about fifty feet away when they heard a yell from behind them, and before any of them could react, someone bowled into their backs, sending them all sprawling on the ground.

Tony saw stars dancing in front of his vision as he landed on his left side, which had both his broken arm and bullet wound. Pepper was yelling something, but Stark wasn't focused enough to actually understand what she was saying.

He looked up just in time to see Ted Calloway limp over and grab his gun out of Whitney's grasp as she struggled to get up. Without a moment of hesitation, Calloway cocked it and pulled the trigger. The ensuing _BANG_ was deafening. Whitney let out a cry of pain, but almost immediately quieted, and she stilled on the ground.

Stark's stomach plummeted, and his heart began running a million miles a minute. He turned to Pepper. "Get inside, call Rhodey," he instructed, pushing himself to his feet.

Pepper nodded and got to her feet as well, hurrying as fast as her injured ankle would let her. Calloway leveled his gun at the retreating redhead, but before he could pull the trigger, Stark lunged at the man and knocked him to the ground.

While Calloway was regaining his breath, Stark kicked the man's wrist, ignoring the pained messages his own body was sending his brain as he tried to get Calloway to release the gun. The two men grappled with each other on the ground, each trying to get the upper hand.

Stark reached both hands over to Ted's wrist and grabbed it, applying as much pressure to it as he could with one arm in a cast. Finally, when Stark thought he might pass out from his own pain, Calloway let out a grunt and his fingers released the weapon.

Immediately, Stark rolled off Calloway, taking the gun with him as he moved. He hit his injured leg on a rock though, and he let out an involuntary gasp. Through the rush in his ears, Stark heard the shattering of glass. He turned his head and saw Pepper reaching through the now-broken window on the front door as she reached in and unlocked the door.

With that distraction, it gave Calloway enough time to regain the upper hand. Tony saw him coming out of the corner of his eye, and as Calloway lunged himself at the billionaire, Stark brought the gun up, but Calloway hit him before he could actually pull the trigger. Instead of trying to grapple for the gun, Stark decided to just take it out of the equation all together. He threw his hand out and released the gun, sending the weapon far away from either of them.

"No worries," Calloway growled as he straddled Tony's chest. "I don't need that to kill you." He reached forward and wrapped his hands around Stark's throat, and nothing the billionaire did loosened Calloway's grip. Tony tried prying the man's fingers off, but seeing his prey struggle just seemed to fuel Calloway's strength, and the fingers tightened even more. To try and stop his struggling, Calloway briefly released one hand from Stark's neck and used it to jab his fist onto the billionaire's injured thigh.

Stark gagged slightly, feeling like he was going to throw up. He barely even noticed Calloway's hand going back to his throat; the pain in his leg was overwhelming. The black spots that had been dancing in Stark's eyes began to expand and grow, filling more and more of his vision. In a last-ditch effort, Stark focused on the bright red spot in the middle of Calloway's thigh, where Whitney had shot him.

Tony's thoughts were mostly disjointed, but the one clear thought in his mind was telling him to use the exact same weakness Calloway had just used against him.

Releasing the grip his injured left hand had on Calloway's grip, Stark immediately swung his arm like a club, using the cast to connect solidly with the other man's injury.

Calloway yelled in pain and did what Stark had hoped he would, which was releasing Tony's neck to clutch at his injured thigh.

Stark hadn't realized that when he had fallen how close he was to Whitney. The sight of the woman lying on the ground with an ever-growing stain on her shirt had him frozen momentarily, but he was jerked back to reality when he heard a grunt. Stark looked up just in time to see Calloway lunge at him, fists flying.

Tony put his arms up in front of his face, doing his best to ward off the attack, but it never came. There was a determined yell and a _thwak._ Stark slowly moved his arms away from his face in order to see what had happened. Pepper was standing behind Calloway holding a wooden chair. Well, the remaining pieces of a wooden chair. Calloway had staggered slightly, but he straightened back up with a growl as he turned towards Pepper.

"Honey, I would run," Stark called out, lunging for Calloway to take his attention off the redhead. However, the hit man simply turned and kicked at Tony's face, connecting solidly with Stark's forehead. The billionaire jerked back, blacking out as he hit the ground.

When Stark came to a few moments later, his head was pounding, and it took him a second to remember where he was and why he felt so jumpy. Everything came back though, and when he heard struggling, he looked to the side and saw Calloway holding Pepper by the throat, just as he'd done to Tony mere moments before. Stark's blood boiled, but he knew at the moment, even with Calloway's injuries, he was stronger than he and Pepper both.

Stark's eyes landed on the gun he'd tossed away from Calloway a few minutes earlier. Without pausing, Tony began crawling towards it, reaching out his hand as he got closer.

The gun was just out of reach of his fingers, and he stretched as far as he could. Deja vu of the explosion at the mansion was extremely present as his fingers grazed over the gun, and he groaned as he forced himself to stretch just a little further, and he finally gripped the weapon in his hand.

Once he felt the weight, he turned and aimed the gun, glad that Calloway's back was to him, meaning that Pepper wasn't in the direct line of fire. Stark didn't hesitate as he cocked the hammer, then squeezed the trigger. The small kickback jarred Tony's already-battered body even more, but he didn't care. He watched in grim relief as Calloway dropped to the ground, a red stain spreading across the man's side, similar to what Calloway had done to Whitney. Stark wondered momentarily if Calloway was alive or dead, but then remembered that he didn't care.

Pepper had dropped to the ground when Tony fired, and she was getting back up, massaging her neck and coughing as she made her way over to her boyfriend.

"Tony," she said quietly, reaching down for the billionaire's hand. Stark reached up to take her hand, then noticed he was still holding the gun. He immediately dropped it, the clasped Pepper's hand in his own.

"You okay?" he asked.

She stared at her boyfriend with wide eyes, obviously shaken.

"Pepper?" Tony prodded again.

"Yeah," the redhead finally replied, nodding slowly. Suddenly her eyes widened. "Whitney," she said, reminding Tony that they still had one more person to check on.

Every move was a trial, but Stark pressed on. When they reached Whitney, her face was pale and she was barely breathing. Stark cursed softly when he saw the wound, and Pepper covered her mouth.

Calloway had shot Whitney in the side, and she was covered in blood, her mint-green scrubs clashing with the blood now staining them. Pepper fell to her knees next to the woman. Stark reached out and felt her neck, hoping to feel a pulse.

When he felt the weak beat under his fingers he turned to Pepper. "Get pressure on that wound," he instructed. "Stop the bleeding."

Pepper nodded and began pressing down on the wound. Whitney barely shifted under Pepper's hold, not making any noise or giving any reaction to the pain that she would have undoubtedly been in had she been conscious.

There was a loud _whirrrr_ above them, and the ground shook slightly as War Machine dropped down behind the two of them.

"Geez," Rhodey muttered as he flipped up his faceplate and took in the scene before him. "You guys okay?"

"Never better. Took you long enough," Tony quipped. Rhodes ignored his friend's sarcastic tone and bent down over Whitney.

At that moment, there was a loud thwapping noise above them, and Stark craned his neck upwards and watched as several men in black TAC gear rappelled down from a large craft hovering in the air. Stark recognized the outfits as ones from SHIELD.

Stark tried to get up and take a step backwards, but the adrenaline he'd been running on was suddenly depleted, and he just sort of let himself fall back on his backside. His broken arm was throbbing, thanks to the fact that it had been used as a club, and he could tell that his bullet wound had been reopened. His leg was numb, so he couldn't tell if his rebar stab wound was reopened as well, but he just decided to go with the assumption that it had been.

"Tony," Pepper said throatily, crouching down next to her boyfriend. It was hard to hear her with the combined noise of the large aircraft and the blood in his ears, but he was able to tell what she was saying anyway.

"'M alright," Stark muttered, waving his uninjured hand. "You need to get checked out," he added, looking at the redhead.

"Not more than you," Pepper insisted, gesturing for one of the SHIELD agents to come over.

"Look at Pepper," Stark instructed, trying to push the man's hands away from himself. "All these injuries are old. Make sure-"

"Tony, just stop fighting this, please!" Pepper cried, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

"Sir, we're going to give you a mild sedative," the SHIELD agent said, rubbing an alcohol swab on his skin. Tony was still arguing with Pepper, so the words didn't register until he felt the prick of the needle, and by then it was too late to protest it as the cold sedative spread through his veins.

"Hey," Pepper said, grabbing his hand. "It's gonna be okay. I'll be there when you wake up."

Stark tried to say something, but whatever they'd given him was strong, and fast-acting. His eyes closed within a matter of seconds, and he drifted off into a pain-free state of unconsciousness.

 _ **Okay so I wanna know what you guys think of the whole reasoning behind the assassination attempt, because I'm honestly not sure how I feel about it still?**_

 _ **Let me know what you guys think, or if you think my writing could improve somewhere (as long as it's constructive and not just flaming at me)!**_


	6. Chapter 6

**_Here it is... the last chapter! *readers cheer in the distance* ;) just kidding. I hope you guys like the story!_**

 ** _Okay, just because there is a slight time jump, I'm just going to explain this here: They're at the tower because I started writing another hospital scene, but it just felt like a repeat of a few chapters ago, so I figured what could have taken place at the hospital could take place here, so this is a few days after they've been rescued and they're just sorta chilling at the tower :)_**

 ** _I don't own anything to do with Marvel._**

 _A Few Days Later, Avengers Tower_

" _Honey, I can't reach any further, and you can't stay there! You're gonna have to let go; I'll catch you."_

 _The trusting look in Pepper's eyes turned to one of horror and betrayal as the wreckage she was clinging to shifted right as she let go, and she plummeted down towards the hard, unforgiving ground._

" _No!" Tony reached out his hand as far as he could, and their fingertips brushed as she fell past him._

 _Stark didn't have time to process what had just happened because suddenly, he found himself on the ground as well, surrounded by flames that were licking at his clothes and skin. For a moment, Stark frantically patted at the flames as he tried to put them out, but completely forgot about the fire_ _when he saw Pepper standing right next to him, looking completely fine for someone who had just fallen two hundred feet._

" _Pep, you're okay?" Stark reached forward to try and touch her cheeks, but as soon as their skin made contact, she began crumbling to ash. His eyes widened and he immediately drew his hand back, not wanting to hurt her further._

" _Tony?" Pepper asked, looking down at herself as she disappeared. Her gaze flicked up, and the betrayal and confusion in her eyes hurt much more than anything Stark had gone through. Her eyes shimmered with tears. "Why?"_

" _Pep, I'm sorry, I—" Stark wasn't able to get the rest of his apology out before the rest of his girlfriend disappeared in a stream of ash, carried away by the wind._

" _You can't protect anyone, can you?" The condescending voice sounded familiar, and when Stark turned, he saw Aldrich Killian walking towards him. "Everyone you associate with dies. No one is safe if they know you."_

 _Tony tried to move, but his feet were stuck to the ground, and he could do nothing as Killian came closer and closer. The man began glowing with Extremis, and he smirked at the billionaire before thrusting his hand into Tony's stomach._

Stark's eyes shot open and he drew in a deep breath through his nose, glancing around and reminding himself that he wasn't on that oil rig. Pepper was safe and alive. His breathing eased slightly, and he sat up from his reclined position on the couch. His sore body protested the movement, but Stark was sick of just sitting. He needed to find Pepper, and then he needed to go to his workshop, tinker, do something.

Step one of his plan, 'Find Pepper,' didn't take very long, mostly because at that moment the elevator doors opened and the redhead walked in. She still had a butterfly bandage closing the wound on her forehead, and she had a slight limp as she walked, thanks to her sprained ankle, but at least she was alive, and not turned to ash.

"Hey," she greeted when she saw him sitting up. "You're awake."

"So it would seem, yes. Shouldn't you be sitting down, resting your ankle, doing R.I.C.E. or whatever that is?"

"I could say the same to you," she shot back. "What do you think you're doing?" She stared pointedly at the billionaire's attempts to sit up and get off the couch.

"I need to move."

Instead of arguing with him, Pepper simply came and sat down next to him on the couch. "You'd leave me here on this couch alone?"

Stark rolled his eyes at the slight manipulation, but it worked, and he relaxed next to his girlfriend on the couch. He glanced over at her and took in the fading bruises on her neck where Calloway had tried strangling her. He had similar bruises on his own neck, but seeing them on her just made his blood boil all over again like it did whenever he saw the bruising. However, he knew that Pepper was trying to keep both of their minds off of Calloway as much as possible, so he decided not to breach the subject.

"Okay, you've guilt-tripped me into staying on the couch for a little longer. What was the plan for after you did that?"

"No plan," Pepper replied with a smile.

"Then I can get up and move around?" Stark asked, making a move like he would do just that.

"Tony, the doctors said that you could come home from the hospital if you promised to rest," Pepper protested, grabbing his right arm gently to prevent him from moving.

"First, they should have known better than to make that deal with me." At Pepper's glare, he continued. "I can rest in my lab," he argued, even though they both knew he would be doing anything _but_ resting.

"What's wrong?" Pepper asked. She could see it in Tony's eyes every time he looked at her that something had him freaked out, and she wanted to help any way she could.

"It's nothing," Stark promised, trying to shake the image of Pepper breaking apart into ash.

"Tony-"

"It's nothing," he repeated, trying to sound more assured than he felt. "Really. Just… just a bad dream. I'm a big boy. I can handle a few nightmares."

Pepper opened her mouth, but before she could argue, Tony cut her off, deciding it was time to breach the subject. Anything to avoid talking about his own problems. "Any updates on our two friendly assassins?"

With a shrug, Pepper replied, "The last update we got I already told you: they both made it out of surgery and are expected to make a full recovery."

"Good. Maybe we can get a bit more information out of them when they wake up. I've had Jarvis running through the names of all recent stock purchasers. We'll get something soon."

"So what do we do about this group that hired Calloway in the first place?"

Stark sighed. "Add it to the list of people who hate us?" At Pepper's annoyed glance, he amended his statement. "Be on our guard. We'll find them."

"Do you think Whitney would help us?"

"I wouldn't count on that." The voice was unexpected, and Stark and Pepper looked up to see Rhodey step off the elevator.

"Not even a hello," Stark complained just loud enough for Rhodey to hear. "I wondered how long it would take before our blissful peace was broken by your dour proclamations."

"What happened?" Pepper asked, turning towards the Colonel as they both ignored the billionaire.

Rhodey shrugged, holding his hands out. "She was pretending to be asleep, and when the nurse came by to adjust her IV drip, she shot hp and apparently took the nurse and her guard out."

"Took them out as in…" Pepper didn't finish her question, unsure if she wanted to know if the nurse and guard were dead or not.

"Not dead," Rhodey assured her. Pepper nodded in slight relief.

"That's twice an assassin has slipped custody now," Stark commented drily. Once again, the billionaire's snark was ignored.

"Should we be worried about her? What about Calloway?" Pepper's voice sounded stressed again and she sat forward in her chair slightly.

"Frost saved us. I doubt she'd break out just to come after us after all that," Stark reminded her.

"That doesn't mean you should let your guard down," Rhodey cautioned.

Stark waved his hand dismissively, though Rhodey could see the wheels already turning in Tony's head as he began thinking of new ways to keep Pepper safe. "I believe Pepper asked about Calloway?" the billionaire added.

"Calloway's still under sedation. He's not going anywhere for a while, and when he does, it'll be with a host of SHIELD agents."

Once again, Pepper relaxed and leaned back into the seat, nestling into Tony's right side, being careful to avoid hitting his thigh.

"And what about you two?" Rhodey asked. "Healin' up okay?"

"Peachy," Stark quipped.

"Yes, thank you Rhodey," Pepper said with a smile, covering Stark's mouth with her hand.

"Gotta say, Tony," the colonel commented. "And I'm saying this from the bottom of my heart: you look like crap."

Stark shook his mouth free of Pepper's hand. "Love you too Rhodey," he muttered, rolling his eyes.

"I'm serious. Why aren't you asleep?"

"I was. Now I'm not." Stark didn't mention the nightmare, and Rhodey didn't press it.

"All I'm saying is it wouldn't hurt for you to spend a little more time getting some shut eye."

"That's what I've been trying to tell him," Pepper commented, giving her boyfriend an exasperated look. "He's making things more difficult than they need to be."

"Are you calling me high maintenance?" Stark asked, pretending to be offended even though he knew full well that he _was_ difficult to deal with sometimes.

"High maintenance? Nah," Rhodey replied. "That would be putting it the nice way. You, my friend, are a diva."

Stark opened his mouth to argue, but he thought about his friend's statement and shut it again. He had his reasons for the way he acted, but he knew that it came across as high maintenance. However, if that was the cost of his reasonings, he would take it. So instead of arguing, he shrugged in agreement.

"Don't see either of you fighting to get away," he pointed out with his customary grin.

"Don't tempt me," Rhodey warned. "I have my limits."

"Door's right there," Stark replied, pointing towards the elevator Rhodey had come through just a few minutes ago. "Begone. You're free. I release you."

"Thanks for that," Rhodes drawled, crossing his arms.

Pepper didn't say anything, but she gave a small smile and planted a kiss on the side of his temple.

"You can't get rid of us that easily," she muttered as she leaned her head on her boyfriend's shoulder.

Stark didn't respond, but he didn't need to. He glanced over at Rhodey, who held up his hands and shook his head.

"I'm not kissing you," he stated firmly. Stark smirked. Rhodey's face morphed into a more serious expression as he continued. "But I am with Pepper. You can't get rid of us that easy."

The three of them sat in the room for a while longer, Pepper and Rhodey trying to have a serious conversation while Tony added in his own quips and remarks every now and then. Even though he was tired, Stark was doing everything in his power to not fall back asleep. In dreamland, things never seemed to work out his way, and he ended up losing the people he cared about. When he was awake though, it almost seemed like things could be perfect.

 _ **Okay, final thoughts? What did you guys think? Like it? Love it? Hate it? Want to print it out and burn it? ;) Lemme know!**_


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